I’ve been fighting with and against the “New” Microsoft Outlook, as I’ve written about. My biggest issue revolves around the replacement of Outlook’s Tasks functionality with Microsoft ToDo. I use Tasks heavily, sorting by category and using dates to prioritize daily lists.

My email and meeting workflow ties closely to OneNote and Outlook – and I can’t get the same level of integration with the new Outlook.

Windows Central published an article entitled “Microsoft is wrong: The new Outlook for Windows is not ready for prime time”, and after some time trying to work with the new Outlook, it seems that I’m not alone.

From the article:

So, what can Microsoft do to improve Outlook for Windows? First, it should really think about abandoning web tech in favor of a native Windows UI framework such as WinUI 3. I can’t fathom why Microsoft thinks it’s acceptable for a first-party, pre-installed, essential Windows app such as a mail client to not showcase the best of Windows. 

Second, it needs to support basic touch functionality at the very least. Microsoft’s best-selling PC is a tablet called the Surface Pro, and now that device is going to suffer significantly when it comes to reading email in the default Windows client. It’s just shocking.

Third, it needs to be faster and lighter. If it’s not as fast as the old Mail & Calendar apps, I don’t want it. Those are so lightweight and easy to use, the only problem they have is Microsoft abandoned them. I wouldn’t be mad if Microsoft decided to unabandon them and deliver new features, functionality, and UI improvements to these older apps instead.

In short, I think Microsoft needs to go back to the drawing board. The default Windows mail client should be a native Windows app, not a web app.

[via windowscentral]